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chewyboy

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ok, i'm going to start the design of the arms for my t-maxx. i'll be machining them out myself and making new drivelines too, so this may take a bit. This is kinda related to my swaybar/widemaxx thread but anyway here goes.

it is said that the widemaxx is 1.5" wider than the regular max. in the design i'm thinking when the arms are parallel to the ground anywhere from 2.5" to 3.5" extension which would be better and why?


also in doing this i'm going to have to replace the shocks with a bit larger ones. anyone know of good 1/8 scale shocks that might be able to do the job?


also do you think i'm being a bit to aggressive with this or not.

thanks for any input.
 
to my knowlege you are the first around here to try increasing the arms beyond the standard wide maax length. most of the members have replaced the a arms with a standard after market setup of al or nylon.

1/8 scale buggy shocks will work great but it appears that we are all still testing them. my mute has a set of 8 kyosho al shocks and they seem to work fine.
 
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my biggest concern with wanting larger shocks is wanting more travel. since i will be making my parts (except shocks) it wont be that bad of a problem. however i have a feeling that if i take it beyond that of widemaxx i'm going to lose a lot if i do not replace the shocks with something larger.
 
i got the ofna 9.5 shocks and they are longer than the stock ones and they work wonders.

bryan
 
Adding more width to your truck is always a good thing. The one concern when you increase the moment arm of any lever (a-arm acts as a lever) is that it takes a smaller force to do greater damage. So impacts to your wheels in a not-so-head on collision may bend your wider arms more easily. Make sure you take that into account when designing them.
 
supermaxx97: if i extend the width beyond that of a widemaxx and take the bracing out a bit wider too, why wouldn't the savage shocks be a good idea?
 
Depending on the flavor of Savage Shocks you get...they tend to suck eggs. I have heard that there are some decent shocks out there for the Savage, but the shafts are long and spindly and any collision tends to bend them up....or so I am told.

I run buggy shocks on my Savage...but have used a different arm set-up to accomplish this. I'd suggest sticking with a design that allows you to use some T-Maxx shocks. You might consider a design that allows mounting the shocks to the upper a-arm (similar to what I have on my Savage). Just food for thought...
 
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chewy boy: i havent personally done this mod before. but myself i dont think that i would but savage shocks on my maxx. i run the ofna 9.5 buggy shocks in my supermaxx and i like them alot.

but i am not the one to be saying that dont do what u want to with it. go ahead and put savage shocks in ur maxx. i aint stopping u one bit!

bryan
 
ahhh ok, i was going off of suggestions from others. i'm basically looking for stronger larger shocks if take it out super wide.

thanks for all the input
 
More food for thought...

The more upright the shocks, the shorter they need to be. If you make them long, you are asking for bent shafts. If you make them too long, you reduce their mechanical advantage; in effect hampering their ability to do their job.

I'd suggest working something that keeps the shocks attached closer to the hinge pins than to the wheels.
 
ok if you get it already sorry, but i think i may have not described what i want to try/accomplish very well. anyway look at the attatched picture.

st.jpg


first off sorry for the nasty picture, i spent about 20 seconds in paint to do it. anyway when i increase the arms length the pressure put on the socks will become increasingly bad IMHO and i'm not 100% sure that they can handle that kind of pressure. when i extend the arms about 1.5 inches on each side i also want to increase the angle A to allow for stress. doing this i will need longer shocks and stronger shocks also, otherwise i'll end up with a t-maxx low rider :P so when the arms are increased in length and a in also increased a little, this is where my concern comes in with the shocks. anyway if there is a better shock solution than i'm thinking of please let me know.


thanks
 
Sounds like you are on the right track. My only concern was the flaovr of shock and the placement that you described. That picture answers my concerns.

As I mentioned, attaching the shock to the upper vice the lower a-arm might save you some on the length of shock required. That is the only recommendation that I will stick by. The rest sounds like you have a good handle on.

I wish you luck in your quest for a wider footprint.
 
Trophy Class RC makes some arms that are 2" wider overall than stock. they attach the shocks at the upper arms. Not many people bought them because wider is not always better. If you hit something at the wheel the added length will make it much easier to bend or snap hinge pins or break bulkheads. Just attach the shocks whereever you like and use heavier weight shock oil and stiffer springs. if its too low use longer shocks. there are soo many shock lengths available from 7" to 2" and small I don't see how this is such a huge factor.

you could also make it wider by buying some thick aluminum or steel rod and drilling and taping one end to thread the pilow ball into. Then thread the other end to screw into the a arm. like a pilow ball extension. much simpler and easier to make.

Why make a super wide maxx anyhow? aren't they wide enough already?
 
well i got a first gen t-maxx off one heck of a deal (almost free). I have the equipment(cnc mills and lathes) and hopefully will start cutting out new parts from al soon. the .15 is also not as wide as the 2.5 which makes it a bit less stable overall. plus i just wanted to see how it will turn out. i'm not as concerned about stuff getting crunched or bent i'll make sure it's strong enough that this hopefully will not be a factor. so to answer your quest of why, i say why not...
 
ahhh. ok.. well with the old skool maxx arms I can see why. I thought you were making a 2.5 maxx a couple inches wider.
 

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